Branson or Fort Collins?

Neither town has a coast, but Branson has the better freshwater swimming. Table Rock Lake winds through wooded hills, the water is clear, and you can swim from brought-in sand beaches or from a rented pontoon in a quiet cove from June into September.

Fort Collins has a single swim beach on Horsetooth Reservoir and a few lakes out on the plains. The water is only warm in high summer, so it makes a pleasant afternoon rather than a reason to go.

Fort Collins eats and especially drinks better. It is one of the country's best-known craft-beer towns, with brewery tours on the north side of Old Town and taprooms all over the city. Its farmers' markets sell Colorado produce such as Palisade peaches, and a handful of farm-to-table kitchens raise the standard.

In Branson, meals are mostly fuel between shows: fried chicken, catfish, all-you-can-eat buffets and set dinners in the dinner theatres. The tastes worth looking for are Ozark ones, such as skillet cooking, cinnamon bread and trout from the cold lake.

Neither town is a heritage destination, and a day is enough for the sights in either. The difference is in what kind of sights they are. Branson offers living folk craft, with blacksmiths and glassblowers at work in the 1880s-themed park, alongside novelty attractions such as wax museums and the museum shaped like an ocean liner's bow.

Fort Collins has a historic townscape instead. You can wander Old Town's red-brick and sandstone streets, tour the Avery House, a Victorian founder's home, and look round the small campus galleries.

Fort Collins has the only real night out of the two. University students keep Old Town's pubs, sports bars, rooftop patios and taprooms busy at weekends, though the scene is casual and serious clubbing means a trip to Denver.

Branson's evenings revolve around the theatre seat. Once the shows end, families and older couples go back to their rooms, and only a few brewpubs and hotel lounges stay open.

Fort Collins has the bigger landscape. Trails up to rocky summits start a short drive west, the protected Cache la Poudre River offers rafting and fly fishing, and Rocky Mountain National Park adds elk, alpine lakes and walking above the treeline.

Branson's Ozark country is lower and gentler, and most of it centres on water. You can go bass fishing and paddling among the wooded hollows of Table Rock Lake, fish for trout below the dam, explore the caves, or walk the glades of Hercules Glades Wilderness. The Buffalo River's bluffs are about two hours away.

Fort Collins has the somewhat stronger list. Boulder sits beneath the Flatirons, Denver has big museums, Estes Park leads into the national park, and Cheyenne offers frontier history just over the Wyoming line.

Branson's best outings are the steep Victorian streets of Eureka Springs and the Crystal Bridges art museum in Bentonville, with the Wilson's Creek battlefield nearer to hand. Both towns need a car for every trip.

Branson is designed around families. The frontier theme park, water parks, an aquarium, zip lines, cave tours and the showboat on Table Rock Lake are all near one another, and most shows are wholesome by design. The drawbacks are summer heat and the traffic on the strip.

Fort Collins suits a quieter family stay. It has playgrounds in every neighbourhood, flat river cycle paths, a city farm where small children can meet animals, and the Museum of Discovery with its dome theatre. For a zoo or a ride, though, you have to drive to Denver.

Fort Collins is much easier without a car. Old Town is compact and flat, a rapid-bus line runs north to south, and protected lanes, bike-share and off-street trails make cycling the natural way between campus, breweries and parks. You still need to drive to reach the foothills.

Branson is spread along Highway 76 over several hilly kilometres. Pavements are patchy, the strip crawls on show nights, and only the lakefront district and the small old downtown can sensibly be walked.

Shopping is modest in both places, and neither has any luxury retail, but the two offer different things. Branson is about outlet malls, the chain stores at Branson Landing, and Ozark crafts such as hand-blown glass, quilts and ironwork, often made in front of you.

Fort Collins keeps its shopping in a few walkable Old Town blocks. You will find independent boutiques, bookshops, vintage clothing, and outdoor and cycling shops that suit the town's outdoor style.

Branson usually works out a little cheaper. It has plenty of motels, condos and lake cabins, and buffets keep meals modest. The extra costs are a hire car and the shows, parks and boat hire that make up the trip.

Fort Collins hotel rooms are mostly chains, and they get noticeably dearer on graduation and football weekends. Sit-down meals add up there too. Its best days cost nothing, though, from foothills trails to the river paths.

Branson exists for live shows. Dozens of theatres put on country, gospel, variety, tribute and magic acts from morning to night, and there are large biblical productions with live animals. The range is narrow, but there is a lot of it and it is polished.

Fort Collins offers less but covers more styles. Touring Broadway, dance and the symphony come to the Lincoln Center, and the university stages opera and theatre. Indie and bluegrass bands play the small Old Town venues, and free concerts fill summer evenings.

Neither town has a bathing tradition, so in both places rest depends more on the setting than on any spa. Branson keeps its calm in pockets. The big lodge resorts on Table Rock Lake have proper spas and grounds running down to the water, and a rented cabin above a wooded cove is as still as the Ozarks get. Stay on the strip instead, among the neon and show-night traffic, and you will struggle to find that quiet anywhere.

Fort Collins works the other way round. It has no lakeside resorts to match Branson's lodges, only the ordinary day spas and yoga studios of a university town, but the whole place moves at an easy pace, with trees along the river trails and dry, bright weather for slow days outdoors. For a hot mineral soak, though, you face nearly two hours' drive to Idaho Springs.